


Big Hero Brother

by JungleAllTheWay



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Fanfiction, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-09
Updated: 2015-02-20
Packaged: 2018-03-11 07:01:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3318338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JungleAllTheWay/pseuds/JungleAllTheWay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tadashi and Hiro's parents died unexpectedly. Then years later another death leaves a brother mourning again. Now, the remaining brother must figure out who caused this death and why, but if it isn't Robert Callaghan behind the mask, then who could it be? Will later follow the plot of the movie with a few major changes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Faulty Airbags

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Big Hero 6. Disney does.

It was just a normal day, a normal drive to the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology where the school's baseball team had another game to play. The Hamada family went to as many SFIT Ninja games as possible since both Mr. and Mrs. Hamada had earned degrees from the college.

Tadashi was so excited for that baseball game. It was the first time his little brother, Hiro, got to come along. Usually the four year old was babysat by their aunt Cass during such outings, but she was sick with the flu and stress eating because of it, which put her in no health to watch a crazy toddler. And so the Hamadas decided to bring their fourth member along for the ride.

The brothers were sitting in the back seat, Tadashi excitedly explaining baseball to Hiro while he played with his favorite model robot, not seeming too particularly interested.

"Dad, do you think the Ninjas will win today?" Tadashi asked, looking into his fathers eyes through the rear-view mirror.

Mr. Hamada took off his SFIT Ninja cap, the one he'd had since his freshman year of college, and reached back to place it on Tadashi's head. "Is your name Tadashi Hamada?" he asked, glancing back at his son.

Tadashi laughed at that.

And then he watched as his father looked back to the road, shouted and slammed on the breaks as another car sped toward them.

The impact was unbearable.

Tadashi had a broken arm and bruised eye from slamming into the passenger seat. Hiro escaped with only a small cut to his forehead.

The doctor told him later that the airbags in the car were faulty. That Hiro and Tadashi were lucky to be alive. That he was so sorry that their parents didn't make it.

It was just an accident. The other driver had swerved to avoid a pothole, then lost control. That didn't stop Tadashi from blaming him for his parent's death. The other driver survived.

It just wasn't fair.

* * *

 

Tadashi Hamada was depressed.

At least that's what Dr. Mya, one of his aunt's dearest friends, said. Since aunt Cass was in a tight spot money-wise, what with unexpectedly inheriting her two nephews and trying to save up money to open her own business, her friend had agreed to give Tadashi free counseling sessions in exchange for a batch of Cass's famous chocolate chip cookies. According to Dr. Mya, Tadashi had all the signs. Eating too little, sleeping too much, short temper, unexplained headaches. Tadashi didn't think he was depressed, just sad and upset and... scared. But in an attempt to help him overcome his supposed "depression", his aunt made him visit Dr. Mya once a week.

Tadashi didn't like going and talking about his parents' death. It had only been a month, and the crash was still fresh in his mind, and it was just too painful to think about. They wouldn't even let him bring Hiro along, who always helped Tadashi feel a bit better, because Hiro was not "depressed". Hiro was too young to quite understand what exactly death meant. He hadn't yet processed that he would never see his parents again.

And he was already forgetting about them.

After the crash, Tadashi's little brother would ask him every day when mom and dad would be home. But it had been two weeks since Hiro last asked about them.

And aunt Cass. Every time Tadashi would bring up missing his parents, or really anything about them, she would give him a pity-filled look and tell him to "be strong" for Hiro or tell him that his parents would always be with him as long as he remembered them.

He felt like she didn't miss her brother and sister-in-law as much as she should. Like she didn't understand how he was feeling.

Like he was all alone.

Maybe he was depressed. He had good reason to be, right?

* * *

 

Tadashi stepped off one of San Fransokyo's many trolleys, backpack slung over his shoulder. It had taken a whole lot of prompting from aunt Cass and Dr. Mya, but he'd finally decided to go back to school. He didn't want to get too far behind on his work. Of course, when his teacher handed him his missed classwork she had given him a sad look and said he could take as much time as he needed to finish it. And all of his classmates and friends had acted strange around him, not really wanting to talk about his loss but still wanting to ask if he was alright.

It was a bad day to say the least.

He walked for about a block before he came to his aunt's apartment. It was a small, old building with rusting metal stairs and dark windows, and aunt Cass was ready to move out the minute she had enough money to open her bakery, but it was homey. He climbed the stairs to apartment number 313 and knocked.

Aunt Cass opened the door, a wooden spoon in her hand. She was wearing an apron covered in flour.

"Tadashi!" She smiled and pulled him in for a hug, forgetting about the flour. When she finally pulled away, she realized her mistake.

"Oops." she tried to suppress a laugh. Tadashi walked inside, closing the door behind him.

Aunt Cass went back to her baking. She must have been trying to perfect one of her cookie recipes, because it seemed as if every ingredient they owned was splayed across the counter and kitchen table.

"So tell me, how was school today? Do you have a lot of work to catch up on? I bet you were glad to see your friends again, weren't you? Do you want to try one of these cookies?" She was asking questions faster than he could answer.

He forced a smile as he looked at her. "Actually aunt Cass, I'm really tired..." he gestured to the flour now all over his shirt. "I think I'll go change and take a nap."

There was that pity-filled look again. Aunt Cass wiped her hands on her apron and went over to him, patting him on the back and kissing the side of his head. "You don't want to eat anything first? I can make your favorite hot wings. You know the ones with the sauce that makes our faces numb and..."

Tadashi felt his stomach rumble. "No thanks. I'm not very hungry." He pulled away from her and headed back to the room he shared with Hiro, taking his backpack with him. He hoped aunt Cass wouldn't go through his bag while he was sleeping and find his lunchbox, full of untouched food.

* * *

 

The rest of the week went the same. Tadashi went to school. He did his daily work as well as what he needed to do to catch up. He skipped lunch. He rode the trolley home. He was greeted by aunt Cass at the door. He refused food. And he slept. Sleeping was what helped him get away from his reality. When he slept he didn't have to think about his mother and father.

On Friday aunt Cass opened the door to see Tadashi's weak smile. He could really only muster up a smile for her. She pulled him inside and he immediately smelled them. Hot wings. It made his mouth water.

"Surprise! I made your favorite!" She grinned. "You hungry?"

Tadashi was hungry. But he didn't want to eat.

"Nah... I'm good aunt Cass. I think I'll just go work on my homework and then get some sleep..."

She interrupted him. "Tadashi, I've been checking your lunchbox. You've barely eaten anything all week. You have to be hungry."

"But I'm really not." he lied, rubbing the back of his neck. He was too upset to eat.

"I know how you feel, honey." Aunt Cass sympathized. "I'm sad too. But you can't just stop eating. You have to keep your head up and stay strong."

Tadashi felt the tears beginning to well up. He was losing his temper. "You don't get it aunt Cass! You don't understand! _I_ don't understand! How can you go about baking stupid cookies and hot wings and working when my mom and dad are _dead_?" The tears were flowing steadily now. He shut his eyes and wiped at his face. He felt a pair of arms wrap around him and he cried into aunt Cass's shoulder.

"Oh honey." She sniffed. She was crying too. "I promise you, I miss your mom and dad like crazy. It's been hard on me, and I know it's been even harder on you, but your parents wouldn't want us to sit around and cry all day. They would want us to continue living our lives, even if we miss them. I'm so sorry Tadashi."

"Aunt Cass, I don't know what to do."

She pulled away from him and held him at arms length. "Just live your life Tadashi. I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but that's all you can do. You have so much coming in your future, so much, and I know you are going to do great things and I'm going to be so proud of you. I already am proud of you." She reached up and wiped a tear from Tadashi's cheek. "Everyone grieves in a different way. I don't want you to forget your parents or act happy. But you do need to grieve in a healthy way. That means you have to eat and you can't sleep all the time. Just know that I'm here for you, Hiro is here for you, and Dr. Mya is here for you. We love you."

Tadashi grinned weakly. "Thanks aunt Cass."

She tousled his hair and gave him one last hug. "So are you hungry now?"

Tadashi shook his head. "I might eat later."

Aunt Cass frowned, an upset look in her eyes.

"I will eat later." he corrected himself. "I just really need to start on this homework."

"Ok." She said sternly. "But you better be back in here in an hour or I'm bringing a plate into the room and feeding it to you."

Tadashi smiled and went to his room.

* * *

 

After thirty minutes Tadashi was ready to give up on his math. He hated word problems with a passion. He knew he was smart, but math was not his best subject.

Just then the door to his shared room opened and in popped Hiro. The toddler had started going to daycare recently, and one of the other kid's mom had volunteered to drop off Hiro at the end of the day.

"Dashi! Aunt Cass made wiiiiiiings!" Hiro said excitedly, jumping onto Tadashi's bed. He laid on the ten year old's back and looked at the math worksheet.

"I know, Hiro. Just have to finish this math sheet and then I'll be ready to eat."

"Well hurry uuuuuhhp! I'm _starving_!" Hiro whined.

Tadashi smirked. "Hey, this stuff is pretty hard! Just listen to this: Steve had eleven boxes of fifteen cards each. He met a friend and gave him four cards. How many cards does Steve have left?"

"One hundred sixty one." Hiro answered, mere seconds after Tadashi had finished reading the problem. "Ok can we go eat now?"

"What?" Curious, Tadashi worked slowly through the problem. Turned out, his little brother was right.

"Hiro..." Tadashi said slowly, then looked at the next problem. "Ok, try to solve this one: Mike had nine boxes of eighteen pencils each. A friend gave him sixteen more pencils. How many pencils does Mike have now?"

"That's easy. One hundred seventy eight."

Tadashi worked out the problem and got the same answer. He stared at his little brother. "Hiro, you're a genius!" He picked up his little brother and tickled him, both boys bursting into laughter.

Aunt Cass came into the room just then. "Boys... what's going on?" She smiled when she saw the two brothers playing.

"Oh nothing aunt Cass." Tadashi answered, setting Hiro back down. "I'm almost done with my homework, we'll be out for dinner in a minute."

She smiled widely and walked back out, shutting the door behind her.

With Hiro's help, Tadashi finished his homework five minutes later. When they were done he put up his books and papers and they laid back on the bed.

"Dashi, when are mom and dad gonna come back?"

Tadashi turned his head to look at his brother. Hiro's eyes were wide and curious.

"They aren't coming back Hiro. It's just you and me and aunt Cass now." He said softly.

"Is that why you've been "duhpreshed" and sad?" Hiro asked.

Tadashi nodded. "Yeah knucklehead, that's why."

He thought about what aunt Cass had said earlier, and about how smart his brother was, and about how having Hiro around made Tadashi less upset.

Because when Hiro was around, Tadashi didn't feel so alone anymore.

"But you know Hiro," Tadashi began, "even though I'm sad that mom and dad are gone, I'm glad that I still have you and aunt Cass." He paused for a second, thinking. Just then he saw his father's baseball cap, hanging on the bedpost where he had left it the day after the crash. He hadn't touched it since that day, but now he reached over and grabbed it, placing it on his head. "Promise me this Hiro, we're always going to be brothers. And brothers help each other out. Whether it's helping with homework or cheering each other up or getting out of trouble, we have to stick together. We'll make it rule number one. Let's shake on it."

Tadashi and Hiro made a fist and bumped them together, then wiggled their fingers while making explosion noises.

"Thanks for being here for me, buddy." Tadashi said.

Hiro smiled a gap-toothed grin. "I'm just following Hamada Code." He stated matter-of-fact-ly.

Tadashi liked that name for their set of "rules". It had a nice ring to it.

"I love you, Dashi."

"Love you too, Hiro."

And after that day, life did start to get better.


	2. For the Love of Robots and Gummy Bears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately I don't own Big Hero 6 or any of its characters.
> 
> I also do not own Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, which is loosely mentioned in here.

The Hamada brothers loved science. It was something the whole Hamada family seemed to have in common. Even aunt Cass loved the subject, though her kind of science was more along the lines of mixing ingredients instead of chemicals.

As Tadashi grew older, it became apparent that there was one scientific genre he was most interested in: robotics. He liked the idea of building things that could help people and maybe even save lives. He started watching videos from robotics expos during his spare time, as well as reading robotics magazines. That's how he found his idol, Professor Robert Callaghan.

Professor Callaghan was one of the most renowned scientists in the world. To Tadashi, he was practically a celebrity. He had helped to establish the foundation of robotics and even had his own set of laws, called Callaghan's Laws of Robotics.

According to Callaghan's Laws:

1\. A robot must not harm any living being.

2\. A robot must obey the orders it is given, unless such orders would undermine the first law.

3\. A robot must protect itself unless doing so would break the first or second law.

Tadashi made it a goal to meet his idol. It was a big goal, but no less achievable than the other goal he set: to one day build a robot that would change the world.

On his twelfth birthday, he asked aunt Cass for one thing only. It was a model robot building kit. She was happy to get it for him, secretly taking some of the money from her "bakery savings" stash in order to buy it.

When Tadashi started working on his new robot, Hiro joined right in. He was at his big brother's side through the whole building process. He would help tighten a screw here, pop a part into place there, he would even tell Tadashi where a part went, without looking at the directions. Hiro was a genius.

Not that Tadashi didn't know this. The six year old was already in second grade, having skipped the first after his Kindergarten teacher suggested he either skip or join a gifted program. Since aunt Cass didn't possess the funds for the program, they had decided on the first option. Tadashi and his aunt were both so proud of the youngest Hamada.

So Hiro helped his big brother with the bot, and it was finished in a week. Tadashi's love of robotics rubbed off on his little brother, and he began to express his new interest ...in his own way.

Which meant building his own reckless inventions.

It started out pretty harmless, a few nuts and bolts and tools disappearing from the junk drawer on Tadashi's side of the room. At first, Tadashi thought nothing of it, but one day while he was laying on his bed and sketching the design for a robot he had in mind, he looked up to the model robot he had built three weeks earlier for some inspiration...

And he swore he saw it _move_.

He stared at it for a moment, and when he saw nothing else he slowly turned to gaze back down at his drawing. When he heard the whir of mechanical parts moving, he jumped and looked back to the model robot, which stopped moving the moment Tadashi's eyes landed on it.

He heard a giggle from behind Hiro's bed. Upon further investigation he found the six year old there, hiding with a remote control and trying to contain his laughter.

"Hiro, did I see the model bot move?"

His little brother smiled, showing the gap in his teeth. "Mayyybeeeee..."

Tadashi took the remote control from Hiro, who did not oppose, and pressed a few buttons. The model robot raised its arms into the air.

"Hiro..." Tadashi began. "How did you...?"

"I added a microchip to the robot's battery pack, which has a sensor in it that connects to the controller." Hiro stated proudly. He ran and grabbed the model bot from the shelf it was on. "Pretty cool, huh Dashi?"

Tadashi nodded, a proud smile on his face. His brother's smarts continued to amaze him. After thinking for a moment, he grabbed the notebook he had been drawing in off of his bed.

"Think you could help me on this next project?" he asked, showing the picture of the bot he had drawn. It was a robot he wanted to program to help aunt Cass bake more cookies. If she was going to open a bakery one day, she had to be able to make lots of sweets at one time, right?

"Cool! Yeah let's do it!" Hiro shouted and hugged his brother tightly. Tadashi grinned and ruffled his brother's messy hair.

"Wait a second..." Tadashi was puzzled. "What did you use to make a microchip?"

Hiro frowned, which meant Tadashi probably wasn't going to like the answer to that question. "I might have borrowed some parts from one of your game consoles..." he said slowly, taking a few steps back from his brother.

Tadashi stared at him for a moment, then lunged, but his sibling was too fast. Hiro ran out of the room screaming, and Tadashi was right on his heels.

* * *

 

"HIRO!"

Tadashi ran out of his room at the sound of aunt Cass's distress. She was rummaging through drawers, throwing utensils onto the counter with one hand and clutching a donut in the other. She was stress eating again.

"Aunt Cass, everything ok?"

She turned to look at the now fourteen year old Tadashi. "No, everything is NOT ok! I cannot find my egg beaters and without egg beaters I can't mix ingredients and when I can't mix ingredients I can't make the five dozen cupcakes that Mr. Shuman needs by TOMORROW for his party and without the five dozen cupcakes I can't make money to save up for my bakery and-"

Tadashi put a hand on his aunt's shoulder, interrupting her. "Aunt Cass, breathe."

She took a deep breath, then a huge bite out of the donut in her hand. "-and I just KNOW that your little brother has something to do with this."

She was probably right. Ever since the brothers had built that model bot two years ago, Hiro had stolen plenty of household items to build make-shift bots. Tadashi wouldn't have minded as much if he had made some helpful robots, but all his creations were good for was causing trouble.

Just then, eight year old Hiro walked into the kitchen. By the look on his face when he saw his aunt's furious expression, he immediately wished he hadn't come at her call.

Aunt Cass turned to Hiro and put her free hand on her hip. "Hiro, did you take my egg beaters?" she asked, her tone accusing.

"No..." Hiro stated, before turning and running into his shared room, locking the door behind him.

Aunt Cass's face turned red and she stuffed the rest of the donut in her mouth before marching toward the door. Tadashi gently grabbed his aunt's arm to stop her.

"Let me talk to him. I'll make sure he gives back your egg beaters."

She nodded, looking tired and defeated. She grabbed another donut off the counter and slumped onto the couch.

Tadashi went and knocked on the door to his room. "Hiro, it's me. Tadashi."

No answer.

"Come on, let me in. You can't lock me out, it's my room too."

There was a soft click from the other side of the door. Tadashi tried the knob and the door opened.

Hiro was standing by his bed, holding a robot in his hands. It was made of all sorts of parts, but what stood out most were the arms. They were made of egg beaters.

Tadashi closed the door behind him and went to sit on Hiro's bed. He patted the mattress beside him, and Hiro sighed, taking a seat.

"What were you thinking, knucklehead. You know aunt Cass needs those to bake pretty much everything."

Hiro nodded. "I know, but they were the perfect parts for my bot! I mean, just watch how _sick_ this is!" he flipped a switch on the bot and placed it on the ground, facing it toward a tower of blocks he had built. The bot's arms raised and pointed toward the blocks, then the egg beaters spun and whirred until they picked up maximum momentum and shot straight at the tower, knocking it down and sending blocks flying across the room.

Tadashi smiled slightly. "Yeah, that was pretty sick, but you still have to give the egg beaters back."

Hiro frowned as Tadashi picked up the severed egg beater-arms.

"You better apologize to aunt Cass." he said, placing the beaters into Hiro's hands.

"For sure."

"Before she eats all the donuts she made." Tadashi added.

"Absolutely..."

Tadashi sighed. "If you do it now I'll give you the pack of gummy bears I bought at school yesterday..."

"Done!" Hiro said, jumping up from his bed and running out of the room.

Aunt Cass gave him an earful, but to Hiro it was all worth it for a pack of gummy bears.

* * *

 

Hiro had skipped first, fourth, and fifth grade, and was now in seventh grade at the age of nine. It seemed every grade he tried was too easy for him because he was just too smart, but the school board would only let him skip one grade at a time.

Fifteen year old Tadashi was struggling with his sophomore year of high school. Sure, after the stressful freshman year he'd had last year, all the work was a breeze. But he was still having trouble with making friends, going through puberty, and his new found attraction to the girls in his class.

But it seemed Hiro's trouble with school was much worse. Tadashi understood. It couldn't be very easy to make friends when you were the only nine year old genius in a group of twelve to thirteen year olds.

Hiro came home crying almost every day of his first month of seventh grade. Apparently the kids who had ignored or tolerated him in the sixth grade had grown meaner over the summer, and were now pestering him every chance they got. Aunt Cass tried to help by baking him his favorite sugar cookies, but Hiro wasn't much for eating his emotions. He usually ended up in his big brother's lap, crying into his shoulder as his big brother held him. He would eventually calm down and tell his sibling what had happened that day, and Tadashi would listen and offer up comforting words and advice.

Tadashi was good at giving advice, especially to his little brother. He came home from school every day prepared to talk to Hiro about his feelings.

Except for one day, about two months after school started. Hiro had reduced his crying to about once a week by then, and he came home that day not looking for advice, but for answers.

Tadashi had to stay after school that day to work on a History project with some of his classmates, and by the time he got home, Hiro was already there. Tadashi unlocked the front door and walked in to see aunt Cass cooking dinner... and stuffing her face with sugar cookies.

It was a wonder to Tadashi how she stayed so thin with all her stress eating.

"Aunt Cass... what's up?"

His aunt, who hadn't seemed to notice Tadashi walk through the door, jumped at the sound of his voice. "Oh hey Tadashi, what did you say?" she asked nervously.

"I said, what's up?"

She seemed to be deep in thought for a moment, as if she was contemplating whether to tell him what was on her mind.

And then it all came spilling out in one sentence, just as all conversations with aunt Cass seemed to go when she was stressed.

"When your brother got home today as soon as he walked in the door he asked me what sex was and I freaked out and told him I don't know because I didn't know what else to say, I mean what am I supposed to say, I've never given "the talk" to anyone, I didn't even give the talk to you, and he's only nine so he shouldn't have even heard about sex yet and..." She paused and took a breath, suddenly gawking at Tadashi. _"I didn't even give the talk to you!_ Tadashi, please tell me if school has taught you anything, anything in the past ten years that somewhere along the way they gave you a health lesson about sex because, gosh, I feel like such an awful guardian right now and-"

Tadashi laughed. "Aunt Cass, yes I know about sex. We had a short class discussion about it and they gave us a pamphlet in seventh grade. That's probably why Hiro asked. The discussion should be coming up soon."

Aunt Cass breathed a sigh of relief and pulled Tadashi in for a hug. "Thank goodness! I was worried I was going to have to talk to _both_ of you instead of just Hiro, and I still don't know if I can talk to him about it..."

"I can talk to him. It'll be a man-to-man talk."

"Are you sure you're comfortable with that?" She asked.

"Yeah of course, me and Hiro are close so we can talk to each other about anything."

His aunt visibly relaxed at knowing she wouldn't have to talk to the nine year old about the awkward subject. However, Tadashi was suddenly more nervous. He'd never given "the talk" to anyone either. But he knew his brother would find out sooner or later via the class discussion, and it was better for him to hear from Tadashi first than from one of the boneheaded twelve year olds who probably didn't know the right information anyway.

Tadashi walked into the brother's shared room and threw his backpack onto the bed, trying to think of a simple way to bring up the subject.

"Hey Dashi!" Hiro greeted from his bed where he was working on his homework. "Do you know what sex is?"

Well, that was one way to bring it up.

Tadashi walked over to Hiro's bed and sat down on the edge, avoiding his little brother's questioning gaze. He rubbed the back of his neck, thinking of how to start. "Well..."

He tried to be as detailed as he could without grossing Hiro out too much. He watched his brother's face as he explained, and it seemed that with every word Hiro's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. When Tadashi had said all he could think of, he wrapped up the conversation with "Does that all make sense?"

"Ew..." was all Hiro could say. He made a disgusted face. "Tadashi, how do you know so much about this?"

Tadashi snickered. "They'll tell you the same stuff in the class discussion you're going to have this year." he said simply. He decided not to tell Hiro that the internet held a lot more information on the subject.

* * *

 

It was very rare that the brothers' aunt expressed her feelings in any way other than stress eating. So when Tadashi came home one day and saw his aunt sniffling on the couch, not a pastry in sight, it made him really worried. He started towards her before he realized that she was on the phone, so he hid behind the kitchen counter and listened.

"Mya, I just feel like I'm never going to get this bakery opened. I'm still trying to save up enough money to buy the building and equipment, and I'm _almost_ there. I only need 118,000 more yen, and I'd have enough if I wasn't putting some money into a college fund for Tadashi and Hiro, but there's no way I'm using any of that money toward my business. Those kids have to go to college. They're so smart and I don't want them to miss out on an education just because they don't have the money to go..."

Tadashi gasped quietly. He didn't know his aunt was saving money for college as well as her bakery. It made him feel so... guilty. If his parents were still alive... ouch. It had been a while since the thought of his parents had stung so much.

He crawled out from his hiding spot and went over to aunt Cass, putting a hand on her shoulder. She jumped at the touch and turned around. When she saw him she quickly wiped away at her tears and mumbled an "I'll call you back later" to Dr. Mya before hanging up the phone.

Tadashi went around the couch to sit down beside her, then wrapped his arms around his aunt in a hug. She held onto him tightly and sighed. "Tadashi, how much did you hear?"

He was quiet for a moment. "Aunt Cass, please use some of the college fund for your bakery."

"I can't do that, Tadashi." she argued, fresh tears welling up. "You and Hiro deserve a college education. If your parents were still alive..." she paused, looking at her nephew to see if she'd hit a nerve. He nodded for her to continue. "...if your parents were still alive, they would be saving up money for your college."

"I know, but they already had steady jobs that they loved." Tadashi stated simply, looking into his aunt's tear filled eyes. "This bakery is your dream, and mom and dad would want you to open it. Plus, once your bakery is open, more money should start to come in, right? I mean it has to, because no one can resist your chocolate chip cookies!" That compliment made her smile. Tadashi's mind was working up a plan. "And you're going to need at least a couple employees, right? Aunt Cass, I'm almost sixteen now. I need to get a job. If I help out in the bakery and you pay me for it, I can earn my own money for college!"

Aunt Cass's tears of sadness seemed to turn to tears of joy. She hugged Tadashi again. "Alright, alright! You make a good case." She said, taking the baseball cap her nephew wore off his head and ruffling his black hair. As she went to put the hat back on his head, she stopped, staring at the letters printed on the front. SFN. She ran her thumb over the tattered bill, seeming deep in thought.

"Mom and dad would be proud of you, Aunt Cass. You're doing a really good job taking care of me and Hiro."

She smiled and placed the cap back on her nephew's head, then pulled him in for one last hug. "Thank you, Tadashi." she whispered.

* * *

 

Two weeks later the family of three had moved out of Aunt Cass's small apartment and moved into their new bakery. It was a tall building with three floors: one floor for the bakery, one floor for their kitchen and living room, and another floor for their bedrooms.

Aunt Cass decided to name it "The Lucky Cat Cafe". Tadashi had never seen her happier.


	3. Mochi

If there was one thing Cass Hamada loved more than baking (other than her two nephews) it had to be her collection of maneki-nekos. She had been collecting the lucky Japanese cat figurines ever since she was a little girl, and she'd come to own quite a few. By the time she was in her 30s, she had collected over a hundred lucky cats, all in different colors and sizes. Some sat statue still, one paw raised high into the air. Others were solar powered and would wave their arms wildly. She displayed them proudly on the shelves of her new bakery, which was named after her lucky cats.

All of her friends had lovingly deemed her the "crazy cat lady", a name Cass refused on the grounds that her maneki-nekos were not real cats and that she wasn't really an animal person. She hadn't been since she was twelve. Her parents had taken her and her brother to the zoo one day, and out of all the wild animals there that could have attacked her, it was a squirrel that did. It had bitten her multiple times on the back of the leg, leaving her with a small scar once the wound healed up. That incident left her wary of animals.

Tadashi knew his aunt had this phobia. Hiro knew too. But that didn't stop the nine year old from smuggling a small wriggling bundle into the bakery one day.

Hiro came upstairs quietly (or as quietly as he could, because his jacket was squirming and mewing). When he entered the room Tadashi immediately looked up at the sound, putting on a disapproving face. What had his brother done?

"Unbelievable..."

"Dashi, don't tell aunt Cass!" Hiro pleaded, emptying the contents of his jacket onto his bed and revealing a small calico kitten, white with black and orange patches. It was whining loudly, and Tadashi figured the cafe must have been very busy to have drowned out the distressed sounds. "We have to keep him! I found him all alone in the alleyway back behind school and-"

"What were you thinking, knucklehead?"

"But-" Hiro interjected.

"You know aunt Cass is really afraid of animals. There's no way she's gonna let you keep this thing." Tadashi argued. He picked up the kitten and held it close to his chest, scratching its small head with his finger. It quieted down and began to purr, and Tadashi couldn't help but give a small sigh at how cute the little creature was. He shook his head and walked over to his brother, placing the cat back into his arms. "We have to get rid of it before aunt Cass knows it's been here."

Hiro squeezed the kitten to his chest, causing it to cry out in protest. "No Dashi!" he whined. "We can't toss little Mochi back out into the cold!"

"Hiro, you _named_ it?!" Tadashi glared at him.

"...he looks like a Mochi..." Hiro mumbled.

"It definitely does not look like a rice cake-"

"Does so!" Hiro shouted, sticking out his tongue at his brother.

"Whatever!" Tadashi yelled back, he grabbed a couple jackets from the closet, tossing one of them onto the floor in front of Hiro. "Put your jacket on, we have to get that thing out of here."

"But we _can't_ abandon him-"

"We aren't gonna throw hi- it out into the street, bonehead." Tadashi put on his own jacket and walked back over to his brother, picking the other jacket up off the floor and handing it to him before taking the kitten back into his own arms. "There's a no-kill shelter a few blocks down. We'll take it there and it'll be adopted in no time."

"But-"

"Tadashi, Hiro!" It was aunt Cass's voice, coming from the bottom of the flight of stairs that led up to their bedrooms. "What are you yelling about up there? I can hear you all the way from the cafe!" The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs could be heard, and the boys looked at each other in panic.

"Great!" Tadashi hissed, keeping his voice low. "If aunt Cass comes up here and sees this cat, she'll ground us for a month!"

Hiro suddenly began pushing Tadashi toward the closet. "Just hide in here and keep Mochi quiet, I'll cover for us."

"That's never gonna work-"

"Shh!" Hiro shoved his older brother into the closet and shut the door just as aunt Cass entered their room.

Tadashi scratched the kitten's head, quieting it down. He pressed his ear against the closet door and listened.

"Hey aunt Cass!" Hiro greeted, sounding nervous. _He's never gonna pull this off_   Tadashi thought.

"Hiro, what's going on up here? Where's Tadashi?"

"Bathroom!" Hiro answered a little too quickly. By the sound of his voice he was still standing by the closet.

"Oh really?" Aunt Cass didn't sound too convinced. Her steps got louder as she crossed the room to the closet. "Is that so?"

"Yep!" Hiro said energetically.

Just then the kitten let out a loud mew. Tadashi put a finger to his lips and shh'd it.

"What. Was. That?" Aunt Cass asked. Tadashi heard Hiro laugh nervously before the door was slung open. He looked up nervously to see his aunt, standing with her hands on her hips. "Why in the world is there a cat in my house? Tadashi, I expect this from Hiro, but from you-"

"Aunt Cass, I can explain." He interrupted. Just then the tiny kitten bit his finger, causing Tadashi to drop him onto the ground. "Ow!"

"Tadashi! Did it bite you?" his aunt knelt on the floor and grabbed his hand, clearly worried.

"I'm fine, aunt Cass-"

"See, this is why I'm not an animal perso-" She stopped in the middle of her rant and looked down. The kitten was rubbing its head against her foot, purring. Her eyes softened and she reached a cautionary hand toward it, slowly scratching between its ears. The kitten purred louder and leaned its tiny head into her palm. "Aw..."

Hiro saw his opportunity. "Aunt Cass, can we keep him, puh-leeze?!"

"What? Hiro, no." Tadashi answered for his aunt. "It probably has fleas and diseases and..." His voice trailed off as he heard the kitten mew and looked to his aunt to see her snuggling the kitten to her chest.

"Ok..." She said warily.

"YES!" Hiro pumped a fist in the air. "We get to keep Mochi!"

"Mochi?" Aunt Cass questioned. "He doesn't look like a rice cake-"

"Does so!"

"Alright, alright! His name is Mochi." Aunt Cass agreed, raising the kitten to her and giving it a quick kiss on the nose.

"So does this mean you're over your fear?" Tadashi asked.

Aunt Cass thought for a moment. "We'll just say that this cat, Mochi, is the exception to the rule."

And that's how aunt Cass officially became a true "crazy cat lady".


	4. Chemistry in Chemistry

Tadashi rushed around the cafe, taking orders to their correct tables just as fast as aunt Cass could fill them. It was Sunday, the Lucky Cat's busiest day, when customers would come grab some sweets with their families after church.

He walked back to the counter to grab a new tray of food, but stopped as he saw his now eleven year old brother, sitting on a stool behind the treat display and eating a donut.

"Hey Hiro," he called, walking behind the counter to look his brother in the eye. "Why don't you help aunt Cass fill those coffee orders? We're real busy right now."

The young boy looked up at his brother and smiled with his gaped teeth. "Three words. Child Labor Laws." He smirked and took another bite of the donut.

Tadashi shook his head. "Well, last time I checked making a cup of coffee is not degrading nor threatening to your physical or mental health, and therefore not considered child labor. Get to work, knucklehead." He took an apron from the hook and tossed it at Hiro.

Hiro grunted but followed his brother's request, finishing his donut quickly before walking over to the coffee machine to make the orders.

The rush of customers lasted about another hour before it finally subsided, giving aunt Cass and the boys a minute to catch their breath. Tadashi was wiping down one of the tables when he suddenly heard his aunt's voice, calling his name. He tossed the wet towel he was using over his shoulder and went to the counter where his aunt was waiting for him.

"Thank you so much for all your help, Tadashi." She said, rubbing his back with one of her hands.

"No problem, aunt Cass." He replied.

She grinned back. "Why don't you go take a break? You've definitely earned it." She offered him a chocolate chip cookie and he took it gratefully, giving her a side hug and heading upstairs.

Once he was in his room he headed straight to the computer, grabbing and putting on his Ninjas cap on the way. He sat down and quickly typed in the web address for the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology webpage.

SFIT was his dream school. It was the top robotics school in the world, and his role model, Professor Robert Callaghan, was a teacher there. Tadashi _had_ to go there.

So why did tuition have to be so expensive?

Tadashi had spent all summer applying for more scholarships than he could count, and he'd earned quite a bit of money from them. But even that money combined with his own savings wasn't near enough to pay for his SFIT tuition. He was about to start his Senior year of high school. He knew it would go by in a flash, and he found himself worried that he would never get enough money in time to start at the Institute the next fall.

He had sent in his application and transcripts to SFIT and a couple other schools a few months ago. Every school had sent him back an acceptance letter. Except for SFIT.

He frowned. Maybe he just wasn't meant to go to his dream school.

"I thought aunt Cass told you to take a break, not work on nerd school stuff."

Tadashi spun around in his chair, looking his brother in the eye and smiling. "Nerd school?"

"Yeah." Hiro shrugged. "You left the webpage open one time and I looked through it. It's definitely a nerd school."

"So you're calling me a nerd?" Tadashi questioned, standing up and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yup." Hiro grinned teasingly. He didn't notice his brother inching ever so slowly toward him until it was too late. Hiro turned at the last minute to run but Tadashi caught him by the hood of his sweatshirt and pulled him into a headlock.

"Who's the nerd now, knucklehead?" Tadashi snickered, ruffling Hiro's messy mop of hair.

"Dashi, STOP!" Hiro pleaded, squirming. "Don't touch my hair!"

"Aw! You haven't called me Dashi in forever!" Tadashi laughed and picked his younger sibling up in his strong arms, planting a wet kiss on his cheek.

"EW! Don't do THAT either!"

"Aw, why not little brother? You used to always let me give you kisses." He put Hiro back down on the ground.

"I'm too old for that kid stuff now." Hiro argued, using his sleeve to scrub his brother's germs off his face.

"Just because you're gonna be a freshman when school starts next week doesn't mean you're too old for kid stuff." Tadashi crossed the room and sat back down in the chair by the computer. "If you weren't such a know-it-all you'd be in sixth grade right now with all the other eleven year olds."

"I'm not a know-it-all!"

Tadashi breathed a laugh. "I'm just teasing Hiro." He turned back to the computer and looked at the page, frowning again. If he was as smart as Hiro was, SFIT would have already accepted him.

He just _had_ to figure out a way to get into "nerd school".

* * *

 

Tadashi was going to love his senior year chemistry class.

Not that he ever _disliked_ any of his science classes. It was his favorite subject, and no amount of homework or strict teachers could keep him from enjoying a science class. But the fact that in front of him sat the most beautiful girl he had ever seen made his favorite class that much better.

Her hair was a honey-blonde, long and flowing down her back, which was all that he could see of her at that moment. He had seen her beautiful face when he first walked into the class. She had large green eyes that shined when she laughed, and they were a lovely contrast to her bright pink glasses. Her skin was lightly tanned and... wow. He couldn't think straight around her.

The blonde suddenly took her phone out and pulled a friend she was talking to in, snapping a photo of the two of them with a blinding flash. Tadashi was pulled from his thoughts as he blinked and rubbed his eyes to get his vision back.

Just then his science teacher walked in, a tall man with wide shoulders. His dark hair was gelled up in spikes, and he wore square glasses that framed his blue eyes. He grabbed a clipboard from his desk and cleared his throat to get his students' attention. "Good afternoon everyone, my name is Mr. Holcomb and I'll be your chemistry teacher this school year. Now to start off I'd like everyone in the class to stand and introduce themselves to each other. Please state your name and something scientific that interests you."

The whole class collectively groaned.

"I know," Mr. Holcomb said sympathetically. "You've probably done this four times today already. But doing this exercise will help us to learn a bit about each other. We'll start with this row." He pointed to the furthest row on his right.

Each student stood and stated their name and scientific interests when it was their turn. When it came time for the pretty blonde to speak, Tadashi was paying full attention.

The girl stood and he then realized how very tall she was. With her four inch platforms on she probably towered over him by half a foot. "¡Hola! My name is Aiko Miyazaki." Tadashi loved her name. "I'd have to say that chemistry is my absolute favorite thing in the world! Sometimes my friends call me a mad scientist because I enjoy making chemical compounds so much." She giggled. Tadashi loved her giggle. "But yeah, that's me in a nutshell!" She sat back down and suddenly turned in her chair to face him. He smiled at her.

It took him a moment to realize that she was actually just waiting on him to introduce himself to the class. He jumped up which earned a chuckle from everyone, including Aiko. He took a deep breath. "My name is Tadashi Hamada, and I'm really interested in robotics. I want to one day make a robot that changes the world and-"

Mr. Holcomb interrupted him. "Have you applied to the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, Tadashi?"

"Yes sir." He answered.

"Remind me when we're done introducing ourselves that I have something to share with the class about SFIT. Next."

Tadashi sat down, giving the next student his chance to talk. He glanced back at Aiko, who caught his eyes with her own and gave him a thumbs up and a smile. He grinned back and felt a heat rising to his cheeks, which he tried to hide by pulling his Ninjas cap further down.

After everyone had finished introducing themselves, Mr. Holcomb took some papers off his desk and began to hand them down the rows. Tadashi thought the teacher had forgotten what he was going to share with the class, but he pushed the thought aside when Mr. Holcomb launched into a spiel about SFIT.

"Now, for those of you who don't know, the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology is the top robotics school in the world. Professor Robert Callaghan, known best for his set of robotics laws, is head of the robotics program there. Starting this year, Professor Callaghan is hosting an annual Inventor's Showcase where high school seniors from all over San Fransokyo can share their inventions with the world. The Professor will pick three inventors to receive the SFIT Inventor's Scholarship, which will not only guarantee your admission into the college, but will also pay your full tuition for your freshman and sophomore years. The showcase is in May, so I suggest that everyone interested in this opportunity start brainstorming." He looked Tadashi in the eye before going back to his desk to begin class.

Tadashi almost couldn't believe what he was hearing. This was the answer to his tuition problem! Sure, SFIT hadn't officially accepted him yet, but if he came up with some really neat tech, he could show Professor Callaghan at the showcase and they'd realize just how much potential a student like him had. They would have to let him in!

When chemistry ended, he gathered his books and headed toward the door. He stopped and turned when he suddenly heard his name being called.

Aiko Miyazaki was quickly walking towards him. He wondered how long it had taken her to learn to walk in those heels so skillfully. "Hey Tadashi! So I just wanted to wish you good luck and I really hope you get into SFIT! I applied there too, haven't heard back from them yet but I'm hoping to come up with something amazing for the showcase to prove to them that I belong there." She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear and smiled.

"Thanks Aiko. I haven't gotten an acceptance letter yet either, but SFIT is my dream school so I'll do anything to get in." The two exited the classroom together and walked down the hall side by side.

"So have you started on your robot yet?" Aiko asked.

"What?"

"You said in class that you wanted to build a robot that would change the world." Her eyes shone bright with interest.

"Oh!" Tadashi answered. "No, I haven't yet. I have a few ideas down on paper, but none of them seem very-"

"World changing?" Aiko finished for him.

He looked up at her and nodded.

She patted the top of his head with her hand, a gesture that was strangely comforting for having just met her. "I'm sure you'll come up with something brilliant soon enough! Use the showcase as motivation, maybe that will spark some ideas."

"Thanks, Aiko." Tadashi looked down at his feet for a moment. "So do you know what you're gonna do for the showcase?"

"No clue!" She giggled, then suddenly gasped and grabbed his arm, stopping them in the middle of the hallway. "We could help each other! We could share our ideas and help motivate and cheer on one another! Oh, were going to be such good friends!" She dug into her bag and pulled out a notepad and pen, then quickly scribbled something down before handing it to him. "Call me!" She patted him on the head again and hopped off, ducking into her next class.

Tadashi stared at the sticky note in his hands. It was her number. The girl he had been crushing on since the beginning of chemistry had just given him her number.

Senior year was going to be great.

* * *

 

Tadashi held his head in his hands, staring at the blank sheet of paper in front of him. He had sat down at the desk in his room every day the first week of school, wracking his brain for something, anything good enough for the Inventor's Showcase. He had plenty of ideas, but he needed to come up with something truly mind blowing to guarantee his admittance into SFIT.

Hiro lay on his bed, tossing a baseball into the air while trying to help Tadashi brainstorm.

"An elevator than can move vertically and horizontally?" he offered.

"Nope."

"What about a hover board?" Hiro tried.

"That would be cool, but not very world-changing."

"Oh I know!" Hiro sat upright. "What about a car that runs on gummy bears!"

Tadashi laughed and shook his head. "Hiro, I'm pretty sure you're the only one who would love that invention."

"Yeah, you're probably right." he answered. "That would be a waste of gummy bears anyway. I'd rather eat them."

Tadashi looked down at the other papers scattered on his desk and caught sight of the sticky note Aiko had given him. He had talked to her most days after class that first week, but still hadn't called her. Maybe he needed to. He picked up his phone and typed in her number. After a couple of rings she answered.

"¿Digame?"

He figured that was some form of hello. "Hey Aiko, it's Tadashi."

"Tadashi!" she squealed. "I was wondering when I would hear from you! Run into a roadblock already?"

He smiled. "Actually, yes. All my ideas aren't good enough."

"I'm sure they're wonderful ideas!"

"Well, they aren't good enough to me." He corrected. "I want to come up with something amazing. Something that will change the world."

Aiko hummed into the phone as she thought for a moment. "Have you tried talking to your parents about your ideas? They could probably offer some advice. I know talking to my mom always helps me figure things out."

Tadashi winced slightly. Even though it had been seven years since his parents' death, every mention of them brought fresh wounds to the surface. Though he never cried anymore, he still missed them, and it still hurt. "Well..."

He heard Aiko gasp at the other end of the line. "Oh Tadashi, I'm so sorry! I..."

"No, it's ok, really Aiko. You didn't know."

They were both quiet for a moment. Tadashi's mind was locked on his parents.

And then he got an idea.

"Actually, you just gave me an idea. I really good one." He assured her, knowing she was feeling bad for bringing up his parents.

"Really?" She asked. Her voice was quiet.

"Really."

"Well that's great, Tadashi!" He could hear a smile in her voice.

He thanked her and they hung up after a slightly prolonged awkward silence. He quickly began sketching and writing notes on the paper in front of him.

"Who was that?" Hiro questioned, getting up from his bed and walking over to Tadashi. He looked over his older brother's shoulder to view the sketches in progress.

"It was this girl from school." Tadashi started, scratching out a couple words with his pen before writing over them.

"Ooooooooohh" Hiro drawled, grinning ear to ear.

Tadashi shook his head and smiled, reaching back to ruffle Hiro's hair and gently push his head. "It's not like that." He said, then added quietly to himself, "Yet."

He sketched for a few more minutes then looked down at his work. The notes he had taken were only barely legible, but the sketches were pretty detailed. One sketch that drew his eye was of a small robot, round and snowman-like. His notes read that he was inflatable. Basically, a glorified airbag.

Like the ones that were supposed to save his parents.

Tadashi wasn't going to let this airbag fail.


	5. The Ups and Downs of High School

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those of you who have read my other story, "Give it a Shot", should recognize the Prom scene in here :D The song mentioned is "I Wont Give Up" by Jason Mraz.
> 
> Thanks so much for all the kudos and bookmarks! You guys are awesome!!

Tadashi's invention was going to revolutionize medical science. His idea was a nurse robot, a portable one to be exact, that would be ready at any moment to save lives. His plan was to program the bot with thousands of medical protocol procedures, as well as built in medical equipment and such.

But the showcase was coming up _fast_ , and that was a problem. He had already done lots of research and started his programming chip, but that and schoolwork had taken up the whole first semester of Senior year. He only had five months left to finish the whole project. The whole thing seemed impossible. But he was Tadashi Hamada, and he didn't believe in impossible. He just had to look from a different angle.

* * *

 

Tadashi rushed through the halls of the high school, slipping through crowds of students. He was heading for his locker, where he had accidentally left his chemistry homework.

"Unbelievable, Tadashi. How could you leave your homework in your locker? That's not like you." He cursed himself under his breath as he dodged another unsuspecting student. He turned the corner and finally made it to the hallway his locker was on, glad to see it was much less crowded.

As he ran the last length of the hallway, he passed by a bathroom and heard loud arguing coming from inside. He stopped and listened carefully. It was then that he heard I very familiar voice yell "NO!"

In a matter of seconds he burst through the door into the boys bathroom. Three Juniors were standing around one of the stalls, forcing some poor kid's head into the toilet and flushing it.

One of them turned to look at Tadashi and glared. "Hey, we're kinda busy here, if you don't mind."

Another of the boys turned and saw him, then gasped. "Dude, that's the kid's older brother, Tadashi Hamada!"

There was a sudden bout of coughing from the victim of the bullies. He choked out a single word. "Tadashi?!"

Half drowned or not, Tadashi recognized that voice.

He balled up his fists and ran toward the group, shoving the first kid down to the ground. He grabbed the other two by the shoulders and yanked them back out of the way, then pulled Hiro up from the ground. By the time he turned back around to deal with the bullies, they were gone.

He pulled Hiro from the stall and held his chin with one hand, pushing back his wet mop of hair with the other. He carefully examined his little brother's face.

"Hiro, are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Hiro answered, his eyes avoiding his brother. He was breathing heavily, trying to catch his breath after being forced underwater.

Even worse was the shiner that was starting to form under his left eye. Tadashi gently pressed it with his thumb, which made Hiro wince.

"Hiro, what happened?" Tadashi questioned.

"Nothing! Just forget it, I'm used to it."

"What?! Has this happened before?" Tadashi didn't even try to keep his voice calm.

Hiro nodded, keeping his gaze down.

Tadashi was absolutely furious. _No one_ was going to mess with his brother and get away with it.

"Hiro, why didn't you tell me!? They can't treat you like this!"

Hiro shrugged from Tadashi's grasp, pushing his hands away. "I didn't want you to make a big deal about it, that's why!"

"It is a big deal! They're bullies! They _hurt_ you!"

"I'm FINE!"

Tadashi picked up his little brother then. Hiro protested a bit but was too exhausted to truly fight back. Tadashi gently took his face in his hand. "Look at yourself. They hurt you and you know it." He watched as Hiro looked in the mirror at himself, then buried his head in Tadashi's shoulder and started to cry silent tears.

Tadashi held Hiro close and sighed. He hated to see his little brother like this. Hiro was only eleven, and he didn't deserve to be bullied like that.

"Come on, let's go home and get you cleaned up." Tadashi suggested. He carried Hiro out of the bathroom and down the hall, not bothering to let anyone know they were leaving school. He'd ask aunt Cass to call and explain later.

And he'd be sure that the bullies got the punishment they deserved.

* * *

 

Tadashi stood at Aiko's door, a single rose gripped tightly in his clammy hands. He wore a black tux and champagne colored tie that aunt Cass had helped him pick out, which she said would match perfectly with his date's dress.

About a month earlier he had asked his best friend to prom, using Chemistry homework and a formula involving Praseodymium, Oxygen, and Magnesium, of course. Even though she had excitedly said yes, Tadashi wasn't sure if she thought they were going as friends or a couple. He had tried multiple times since then to ask her out on a real date, but he'd never built up the courage.

He hesitated before knocking on the door. Aiko's mom answered a few moments later.

"Tadashi! Te ves tan guapo!"

"Hi Ms. Miyazaki. Thank you." He said, glad he had brushed up on his Spanish enough to know what she was saying. He followed her inside and shut the door behind him.

"Aiko is in the living room." Ms. Miyazaki said. She paused before adding, "She's a little... stressed at the moment." She patted Tadashi on the back then walked into the kitchen, leaving him alone.

He walked toward the living room and saw her. She was sitting on the couch, her back to him. Her blonde hair was curled and pushed to the side, and her golden dress was low cut in the back, revealing her bare shoulder blades to him. The sight made his breath hitch. He swallowed and walked over to her.

"Hey Aiko. It's me, Tadashi."

When he rounded the couch he got a better look at her. The front of the dress was just as gorgeous as the back, form fitting and sparkling. She wore no glasses, so Tadashi guessed that she had in contacts. On the floor beside her, among piles of Chemistry notes, lay a pair of pink platform shoes.

She looked up at him, her eyes wet with tears threatening to spill over. "Oh, hey Tadashi." She forced a smile. "Ready for prom?"

He sat down beside her and put a hand on her shoulder, concern in his eyes. "Yeah, definitely... Are you?"

She bit her lip and sniffed, then dropped her head into her hands. Tadashi heard a muffled "no".

He moved the curtain of her hair out of her face and gently took her chin in his hand, lifting her face to look him in the eyes. "Aiko, what's wrong? Come on, you can tell me anything."

She smiled weakly, seeming glad that Tadashi cared for her so much. "It's the Inventor's Showcase." She admitted. "It's only a month away! Can you believe that? I still have so much to do, I mean I haven't even tested my chemical compound theories yet! ¡Hay tanto que hacer!"

Tadashi stopped her. "Hey, breathe. It's alright. I'm nowhere near finished either." It was true. His idea for a nurse robot was still only in the beginning phases. He hadn't even finished the coding for his health chip, let alone started building the thing.

Aiko took a deep breath and sighed. "I'm just so worried. I really want to go to SFIT. I want us both to go. But I have no chance if I never even finish my invention." A single tear fell down her cheek.

"Hey." Tadashi took a thumb and carefully wiped the tear off her face. He watched her for a moment before sighing. "Why don't we just skip prom?"

Aiko sniffled. "What?"

"We could stay here and work on our projects. Together."

She shook her head. "That's crazy, Tadashi. We spent so much money on tickets and dresses..."

Tadashi smiled. "I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't buy a dress."

That made Aiko giggle. Tadashi loved her giggle. "You know what I mean." she said.

"Well, what good is prom if we're just gonna be thinking about the showcase the whole time? Why not just make this a study date?" He immediately regretted his use of the word 'date'.  He saw Aiko blush slightly as she giggled again.

"Ok, study date it is."

"Sorry, I'm a little over-dressed." Tadashi joked. That made her laugh. She gently wiped the tears from her eyes, careful not to mess up her makeup.

Luckily, Tadashi never went anywhere without his notebook of ideas. He made sure to always bring it with him, just in case he ever had any spur of the moment ideas. Aiko turned on some music for them to listen to as they both worked out the kinks in their projects, and her mom brought out a few different snacks for them before leaving the room to order a pizza.

After a while of diligent working, an upbeat song started through the speakers. Aiko jumped up immediately. "Oh, I love this song!" She grabbed Tadashi's hands and pulled him up, then started dancing around the room. Tadashi joined in, not the least bit embarrassed by his lack of dancing skills. They were being silly, doing whichever crazy dance moves came to their minds. The song ended in a bout of laughing and clutching of stomachs.

The next song that came on was soft and romantic, the kind of song people slow dance to at, well, a prom. Aiko blushed red and straightened up, starting toward the stereo. "Sorry, uh, I'll change the song-"

Tadashi gently caught her by her hand and pulled her close to him. Without her heels on, she was much closer to his height, which he liked. He carefully put his hands on her hips, looking into her eyes to make sure the action was ok. She responded by wrapping her arms around his neck. They started swaying back and forth, turning in a slow circle as they slow danced and listened to the song.

_"When I look into your eyes_

_It's like watching the night sky_

_Or a beautiful sunrise._

_There's so much they hold._

_And just like them old stars_

_I see that you've come so far_

_To be right where you are._

_How old is your soul?"_

Tadashi looked into those emerald green eyes he loved so much. "You know, I'm glad you aren't wearing your heels."

_"I won't give up on us even if the skies get rough..."_

Aiko looked offended for a moment. "I thought you liked my platforms?" she asked.

_"I'm giving you all my love._

_I'm still looking up."_

Tadashi leaned in and gently pressed his lips against Aiko's, turning his head ever so slightly. He heard her hum and return his kiss, their lips fit together like two puzzle pieces. Too soon she pulled away, staring into his eyes questioningly.

"If you had your platforms on, it would have been a lot harder to do that." Tadashi laughed lightly and pressed his forehead agaisnt hers.

She closed the distance between them and kissed him again, smiling against his lips. After a few moments they broke away again. "Tadashi Hamada, when did you become such a flirt?" Aiko asked, batting her eyelashes at him.

He kissed her forehead, and she closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder. "Just finally built up the courage I guess. I've wanted to do that since that first day in chemistry."

They continued to slow dance, staring into each other's eyes as they did. Tadashi almost forgot they were dancing in Aiko's living room. It was just the two of them, then and forever.

_"I won't give up on us_

_Even if the skies get rough._

_I'm giving you all my love._

_I'm still looking up."_

* * *

 

"Just one month until the Inventor's Showcase." Aiko said from where she sat in a nearby booth, watching Tadashi as he restocked the display case with fresh sweets. It was a Saturday morning and the cafe wouldn't open for another hour. Tadashi nodded, glancing over at his best friend- _his girlfriend_ \- and smiling.

He had decided that, even though his project was not completely finished, he would still enter his idea into the showcase. He had just finished the coding for the health chip, and figured he had enough time to put together a prototype robot. The chip alone would wow Professor Callaghan, Tadashi was sure of that. And when he was finally a student at SFIT he would have all the resources he needed to complete the nurse bot.

"Time has flown hasn't it?" Tadashi asked, finishing his restocking. He grabbed two chocolate chip cookies and went to sit by Aiko.

"It has! I can't believe we'll be presenting at SFIT next month!" Aiko squealed with excitement.

Tadashi laughed and handed her one of the cookies. "Yeah, I know. But it's not just the showcase that's coming up fast. In less than a month we'll be high school graduates. Can you believe that?"

Aiko took a small bite of the cookie and leaned her head on Tadashi's shoulder, seeming to be thinking about something. She swallowed before speaking. "Tadashi, what if I don't get into SFIT?"

Tadashi smiled and patted her head, just like she did to him when they first met. "Don't worry Aiko, you'll definitely get in. There's no one better at Chemistry than you."

"Okay, well what if you don't get in?" Tadashi shot her a playful, questioning look and she giggled slightly. "I mean, not that I'm doubting you. What if one of us doesn't get in and we have to go to different colleges?"

"Where are you going with this?" Tadashi asked, his brows knitting together. "You aren't normally a pessimist."

Aiko sighed and sat up, looking into his brown eyes. "If we go to different colleges we might be too busy with our schoolwork or live too far away from each other... And we might not get to see each other as much..."

Tadashi reached up and brushed a strand of hair out of her face, then left his hand on her cheek. "That's not going to happen. No matter what, I'll still make time for you. I love you."

_Oh crap._ Tadashi thought. _Did I really just say that? What if I said it too soon? What if she doesn't feel the same way?_

"I love you too, Tadashi."


End file.
